Vehicle-wheel.



W. T. THORP.

VEHICLE WHEEL. APPLIOATIONFILED 001.227.1911.

Patented May '20, '1913.

sum, V

un/Minus UNITED STATES v PA ENT ormon.

WILLIAM 'r. THOBP,- or m'ronri'ntn, ILLINOIS.

' vEHIoLn-wnEnL.

To all whom it may concern A Beit known that I, WILLrAM T. THOR'P," a

citizen of the Unite d States, residinglat" Litchfield, in the county of Montgomery and State of Illinois, have invente dnew and use ful Improvements in Vehicle-Wheels, 'of which the following is a specification;

The invention relates to resilient wheels and has for an object to provide a wheel, for

use in connection with vehicles. to produce a"cushioning efiect, whereby vehicles can be operated-over the ground, so thatthe'body of. the vehicle will not be subjected'tojouncing or vibration, caused by the unevenness of the ground.

To accomplish the desired result, use is made of a vehicle body consisting of a hub having spokes secured thereto and-radiating therefrom with the outer ends of the spokes connected to a felly, a rim mounted to en-;

circle the felly and spaced therefrom, the

said rim being preferably provided with a tire, cushioning means interposed between the said rim and the saiolfelly to permit of v a circumferential and radial movement of the rim and side plates connected to the said felly and adaptedtopartially overlap the said rim to protect thecushiomng means ilftei posed between the said any andthe said rim.

, In the further disclosure of the invention, reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, constituting a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference denote corresponding parts in all the views, and inwhicl Figure Iis a side elevation of my vehicle wheel, parts being broken away to disclose the underlying structure. Fig. 2 is a secvtional view'taken on the line 22 in Fig. 1,

looking in the direction of thearrow.

Referring more particularly to the views,

I provide a wheel 10,1consisting-of a hubll having spokes 12 secured thereto and extend- 5 ing radially outward, a felly 13 being rig- .J idly connected to the outer ends of the spokes 12.

Spaced cushion members 14 are rigidly secured to the periphery of the felly 13 by U-shaped straps 15, provided with threaded I shanks 16, passed transversely through the v felly 13 and retainedin rigid positlon by nuts. 17 threadedly mounted on the shanks .16. The cushion members 14 each consist. of a series of superimposed leaf springs 1-8, the smallest leaf spring 18 being positioned I I Specification of Letters Pateiit. Patented May 20,1913. Application filedoetobeg g7; ,191 1. Serial No. 657,033

immediatelyadjacent-theperiphery of the :felly..,13, the succeedingsprings being proportionately greater in length and theouterj most leaf spring being provided with an inso tegral extended curved portion 1Q, bent rearwardly' upon itself and provided at its outer l extremity with an; eye 20 through which is received a pin 21 having the ends thereof secured in standards22g rigidly mounted on a rim 23,'having a crescent shape in cross sect1on,'a roller 24 being mounted on the standards 22 to support the goutermost and adjacent leaf springs 18, the outermost leaf sprmgbeing slidable over the roller and the eye 20 belngturliable relatively to the pin 21.

A suitable tire 25, is mounted on the rim 23 and mounted ,to cover the outer sides of the felly 13 are circular side plates 26, the said slde plates being secured to the felly 13 by.

.bolts 27 passed through the felly, the outer or free ends of the side plates being adapted to partially overlapthe rim 23 and slidably; engage the same so that the side plates will inclo-se the cushion members 14, as shown in Fig. 2.

In the use of my device, when a downward pressure is. exerted on vthe hub 11 and a torsional pressure is exerted on the tire" 25, the mentioned tire 25, owing to the provision of the cushion members 14, connecting the telly 13 with the rim-23, will be movable radially and will also be capable of moying circumferentially, due to the flexibility of the cushion members 14 and the flexibility of the portion 19 of-each of the cushion members '14, thus, any jar or vibration caused by the frictional engagement of the tire 25 with the ground and the contact of the tire 25 with une'ven places will be absorbed by the oushions 14, whether the force to produce the jar or vibration is directed-in the direction'of the periphery of the tire or radially to the wheel and that in the use of my device in cohnection with vehicles the ribration of the 1 vehicle body will be reduced-- to a minimum. By providing the side plates 26, the cushion members 14 will be protected from dirt and other. foreign matter and Will also be guarded 'against injury by stones or obstacles in the road, the mentioned side plates being so arranged as to not interfere with the proper operation of the cushion members.

In a vehicle wheel, the combination with a wheel body, of spaced cushions secured to the wheel 'body each cushion comprising a largerinost spring of each cushion bent backbody, spaced standards-projecting from the i series of superimposed springs, with the the backwardly bent portion of the larger spring of each cushion, a tire carried by the said rim, and circular plates secured to the said Wheel body and overlapping the said 1 rim adjacent the peripheral edges thereof.

= In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two Witnesses.

WILLIAM T. THORP. \Vitnesses A. HosTER, BENNETT S. JONES.

ward upon itself, a rim encircling the Wheel inner face of the rim, an eye formed at the end of each backwardiy bent portion of the larger spring of each Cushion and extending between the standards, a pin connecting the standardsiand passing through the eye of each cushion, rollers carried by the standards and engaged by each cushionadjacent Copies oi this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

